State or other jurisdictional regulations often require that certain products or service providers be registered, licensed, titled, or certified in accordance with specific requirements. For example, purchasers of firearms and vehicles are usually required to file appropriate title documents or registration papers with a state agency or licensing bureau. Although burdensome at times, the processing of titling, registration, or licensing documents, and the associated payment of fees, may be inherent in the purchase of certain items.
Titling and registration procedures are typically carried out on an individual basis, i.e., the titlework to a specific vehicle is conventionally processed to completion at the time of sale or shortly thereafter. Although this methodology may be acceptable for a small number of vehicles, it is particularly cumbersome when a large number of vehicles require immediate titling or registration. For example, a nationwide rental car company may purchase thousands of new vehicles each year that require titling and registration in any number of different states or other jurisdictions. Taxi companies, delivery companies, and other businesses may also have the need to purchase and register a large fleet of vehicles in a short period of time.
A number of problems inherent in an individual titling system are exacerbated when the system is overloaded with an abnormally large amount of titlework processing requests. For example, the manual input of data for each vehicle is a time consuming process that can cause a bottleneck in the flow of titlework. Typically, the system operator must have access to the original titles or ownership papers before processing the necessary registration, licensing, or titling paperwork. Consequently, the physical handling of large volumes of paperwork may result in the loss of important documentation, especially when each transaction is individually processed. Unfortunately, conventional titling methodologies do not implement adequate security measures or document tracking features.
In addition, the specific type and amount of titling, registration, and other data can vary drastically from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and the actual forms utilized for such purposes are typically not standardized. Accordingly, a purchaser of a large fleet of vehicles must be familiar with the various state requirements and must have a supply of the various state forms. Furthermore, individual titlework processing requires the purchaser to provide associated fee payments for each vehicle registered in a particular state. Such individual payments are inconvenient to issue, reconcile, and account for, especially when such payments are distributed to multiple jurisdictions.